Mars Idea Bank
Resources Hello everyone, there has been consideration of Martian resources for fuel in replace of oil. Hematite and water ice can be the resources. First of all, hematite is quite abundant on Mars and forms mainly through the presence of water. Hematite is made of two iron atoms (Fe) and three oxygen atoms (O) per molecule. Water ice is found under a thin layer of dry ice (frozen CO2) at the Martian polar caps. By extracting water ice, through drilling, it is possible to use electrolysis on the water molecules in order to split the molecules into their indivudal elements (hydrogen and oxygen). Hydrogen and oxygen are used in modern-day chemical rockets and are being developed in prototype fuel-cell vehicles. Hematite oxide can be broken down into iron and oxygen by application of high heat. This results into iron metal and oxygen gas--both of which can be extracted for fuels and unit formation. Through fuel-cells, vehicles can become more efficient, smaller, and more versatile than gas turbine engines (and even hybrid engines). - marsbound2024 *10/31/2004: Hello again, everyone. Throughout the Mars Campaign, I do believe that there should mobile hematite harvesters and perhaps drilling platforms on desposits of ice (dry ice covering deposits of water ice). I also think that there should be some textures for hematite "fields" that lie in low areas such as craters, valleys, gullies, shores, etc. When hematite miners cross over this texture, they may stop for operations. There may be two options to transfer the mined hematite. *1. The unit also contains a high-temperature furnace that decomposes hematite into iron metal and gaseous oxygen. Other impurities may arise as well, and thus require filtration. These impurities may be converted into usable resources for construction or power generation. Anyways, the smelted iron metal can be used for building resources, research advancement on technology trees, and power generation. The gaseous oxygen can turn turbines in a separate chamber and thus, create electricity that can be sent to batteries for storage. An attractor device pulls the oxygen gas at an accelerated speed into separate containers where it can be brought back to the base for fuel and ammunition production (as well as breathable air). *2. Instead of the unit having to transport the energy back to base, it can use a microwave transceiver to transmit the energy via ground dish arrays or orbitting satellites. Orbitting satellites would obviously require ones imagination as the game wouldn't actually have a unit, but just somewhat delayed energy transfer (like the instantaneous energy production from oil derricks, but a realistic delay to account for transmittion time). The construction resources may be carried back to the base or simply not fooled with at all. Thus, keeping Warzone simple yet still strategic. A hybrid of these can be chosen as well. Perhaps the first option is mandatory until the progessment in a tech tree allows for rocket launches of satellite power transceivers. The options are not limited to just what I have outlined. Drilling platforms may be constructed in polar regions on icy textures. These platforms are exactly the same as oil derricks, except with a different--more advanced and appropriate look-- and obviously require imagination. This just saves any troubles of complete redesign of oil pools and structures. All you have to do is rename oil pools as opportune underground water ice locations and redesign oil derricks--as well as rename them to drilling platforms. Obviously, there are many other resources on Mars. It just depends on how advanced and complex you want the Mars Campaign to be. For now, we can stick to drilling platforms and mobile hematite miners with the following available resources: ---Hematite: Iron(III) oxide ---Water ice and dry ice: Hydrogen dioxide; Carbon dioxide - marsbound2024 10/31/2004: First of all, the Martian environment is quite different than Earth's. If this all started out with an alien species who altered the Mars Polar Lander and perhaps other lost/disabled landers, then I think they would be quite experienced in the Martian environment by now. Thus, their chassis, propulsion techniques, weapons, and structures would likely be very different from humans. Their chassis would be smaller and they wouldn't carry around huge cannons. This race of robots would rely heavily on efficiency, reusability, and versatility. Due to the fact that the upper layer of the Martian surface is covered by a variables depths of sand, heavy, bulky human vehicles may be weighed down and be overly sluggish. Thus, heavier chassis, weapons, and propulsion types will not perform adequately at first. However, lightweight robot vehicles may travel Martian terrain with ease and grace. They may be hover variants, spider-legged, bipods, tripods, inflatable wheels, and other such propulsions with small, efficient, accurate, but barely formidable weapons against thick armors and shields. As a result, the beginning mission should not be overly difficult, but only quite annoying. The robotic species can obviously construct many small vehicles in a short amount of time, and they will rely on sheer numbers to win a battle with more powerful, yet more sluggish and expensive, human enemies. Thus, relatively inexpensive hardpoints could be used adequately to counter this enemy. Fast-cycling autocannons, assault guns, and etc. should take care of these enemies while heavier cannons--while destroying them with one or two shots--would require great numbers in order to counter a massive enemy. The human player may be horrified by the teens or hundreds of units descending on him, but their formidability is low on an individual scale. However, on a grouped scale, they would be a major nuisance and require good strategic thinking. This would drift away from previous Warzone tactics and allow players to create whole new strategies and maps! marsbound2024 11/4/2004: I have just noticed the information on "Info on Mars" page that it was recently announced that there are signs of oil on Mars. Let me assure you, that this is not the case. Oil is produced from fossilized organisms that undergo tremendous amounts of pressure and heat. Just think, every time you are filling up your vehicle, you are filling it up with dinosaurs. Anyways, oil production is a process that takes millions of years. Thus far, Martian minerals include silicates, hydroxides, oxides, hydrothermal silica, sulfates, phosphates, carbonates, quartz, and others. But really, there is no use for oil anyways once you consider the possibilities: ...Silicates may include a variety of compounds such as Magnesium silicate, Potassium silicate, and etc. Let's examine the chemical formula for Potassium silicate: K2O3Si Thus, there are two atoms of Potassium, three atoms of Oxygen, and one atom of Silicon per molecule of Potassium silicate. What use can we get out of Potassium silicate? Well there really isn't much we can get from potassium. Potassium can be used in explosives, fireworks, fertilizers, photography, dyes, soaps, and etc. While explosives would be great, they are virtually useless in the smothering, Martian environment. However, not all is bad, because if you want to terraform Mars, potassium might be a great addition to your fertilizing supply. Oxygen! If you are on Mars, oxygen is your friend. You can use it to make rocket fuel, water, breathable air, and terraformation. Silicon! Computer chips anyone? Silicon is a great electrical semiconductor capable of producing many of today's advanced electronics. It is also useful in photovoltaic cells in order to collect solar energy and convert it into electricity. Silica! You can just leave the oxygen with the silicon and you have sand. The sand on the beach is made up of silica and it is useful for making glass. Believe me, Mars has lots of silica! It is also good in making concrete, steels, and other alloys. ...Hydroxides are very useful as well and consist of hydrogen and oxygen plus a metal. This may be Copper hydroxide, Ferric hydroxide (Iron hydroxide), etc. Let's examine Ferric hydroxide: Fe(OH)3 ...As you can see, there is one atom of iron with three atoms of oxygen and hydrogen bonded together. Now what are some uses? ---Iron! Iron can be used to build defensive structures, weapons, chassis, engines, steels, etc. Thus, iron is obviously a great element for the Mars Project. ---Oxygen! Ah, more of oxygen! Oxygen is very reactive and can be used in compounds or in pure substances. We've already mentioned the uses. ---Hydrogen! In order for fuel cells (water for the fuel) and rocket engines to work, hydrogen is necessary. Hydrogen and oxygen combust to form thrust and thus, is required for main forms of propulsion to work on Mars. ...Oxides are very useful and quite common. Perhaps the most common is Iron(III) oxide. This is what gives Mars its rusty, red look. We've already mentioned the uses for iron and oxygen. ...Hydrothermal silicas are usually deposited volcanically and contain impurities such as silicon and hydrogen. Their uses are the same as previously mentioned. ...Sulfates are useful compounds for Martian exploration. The most common on Mars are Iron and Magnesium sulfates. Let's examine Magnesium sulfates since Iron is becoming redundant: MgSO4 ...This chemical formula shows that there is one atom of magnesium for every atom of sulfur and every four atoms of oxygen. Since we know why oxygen is useful, let's examine magnesium and sulfur. ---Magnesium is quite a useful substance, but Mars restricts some excellent uses, unfortunately. Magnesium can be used in incendiary bombs, flares, and thermal weapons, but these uses are not able to be taken advantage of on Mars. Magnesium can be used in rocket fuels as well as in alloys for creating durable armors. It can also prevent the corrosion of iron and steel. For example, ships use magnesium plates electrically bonded to prevent corrosion of their steel hulls. ---Sulfur has several applications here on modern Earth, but on futuristic Mars, it is questionable. Sulfur can be used to make rubbers, gunpowder (you can forget using that on Mars), fertilizers (this may be good in terraformation), and sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid can be used for innovative weapons and batteries, but beyond that, there are few uses for it. ---Oxygen has already been covered. ...Phosphates are not abundant on Mars, but we shall examine dibasic Sodium phosphate anyways: Na2HPO4 ...In dibasic sodium phosphate molecules, there are two atoms of sodium, one atom of hydrogen, one atom of phosphrous, and four atoms of oxygen. We have covered hydrogen and oxygen, now let's examine the uses of sodium and phosphorus. ---Sodium won't be very useful on Mars unless the soldiers want some salt on their MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). ---Phosphorus won't be too useful either. You can use it as a fertilizer, but beyond that, no application is beneficial for the Mars Project. ...Carbonates are found throughout Mars in the form of rocks and grainy minerals deposited by previous water flow. Calcium carbonate is an example: CaCO3 (limestone) ...Let's take a look at limestone. We already know it is quite useful on Earth. Thus, let's dissect it. Limestone is made of one atom of calcium, one atom of carbon, and three atoms of oxygen. Now of course, limestone is found in large deposits and just a handful of limestone contains over 6.022x10^23 atoms of limestone--this number is also known as Avogadro's Number, which is equivalent to one mole of a substance. ---Calcium can be used to help create mortars, plasters and cements, etc. It can also be used to extract gases and form vacuum chambers. ---Carbon! There is enough of this on Mars! It can be used for batteries, archaelogical dating (C-14 isotope), synthetic fibers, carbon fuel cells, and other applications. No need in going after mere carbonates if you just need carbon, however. You can extract it from the atmosphere and get carbon and oxygen. ---Oxygen we have already covered, obviously. ...Quartz is a form of silica that can be used to form radio oscillators, watches, and etc. It has a limited use on Mars. ...Now let's go to oils. Oils are made almost entirely of hydrocarbons, yet have various chemical formulae. Thus, you can't really state a single chemical formula for oil. Here are a few types of natural gases and their chemical formulae: --Methane: CH4; produced when organisms give out waste gases. Can be used for power generation and as a fuel. --Ethane: C2H6 --Propane: C3H8 --Butane: C4H10 ...and it gets higher from here... All of these can be used for power generation or use as a fuel. They can do this through combustion with oxygen and thus are a simple way of producing power and propellant. Unfortunately, this simple method comes at a cost of production carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, which is fused together during combustion, and released as exhaust. However, Mars has too little oxygen for combustion engines to be logical anyways. -marsbound2024 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello everyone. I am providing a list of the most common resources on Mars. I hope this helps: Minerals: --Aluminum Silicate Al2SiO5 --Amphibole amidst several members --Apatite Ca5(PO4)3(OH,F,Cl) --Aragonite CaCO3; orthorhombic crystalline structure --Calcite CaCO3; trigonal crystalline structure --Clay (Kandite) Al2Si2O5(OH)4 --Clay (Smectite) x #H2O --Clay (Muscovite) KAl2AlSi3O10(OH)2 --Dolomite CaMg(CO3)2 --Feldspar amidst 20 members --Garnet amidst several members --Hematite Fe2O3 --Hydrous carbonate amidst MANY members --Mica amidst several members --Olivine Fe)2SiO4 --Phosphate amidst MANY members --Pyroxene amidst several members --Pyroxenoid amidst several members --Serpentine (Mg,Fe)3Si2O5(OH)4 --Sulfate amidst MANY members * Commas in chemical formula separate variable elements. For example: Olivine (Mg, Fe)2SiO4. This means that olivine can contain either (Mg)2SiO4 or (Fe)2SiO4. ** Some compounds are too variable to be generalized, but I may include general equations in the future for determining these. *** Numbers in in chemical equation are meant to be subscripts for the item to the left of it. However, I lack control to write subscripts on this page. To clear up confusion, here are two examples: Hematite: Fe2O3; There are two irons (Fe) and three oxygens (O). Iron(II) hydroxide: Fe(OH)2; There is one iron (Fe) and two hydroxides (OH). Or, if you are confused: there is one Fe, two O, and two H. Hydroxide is just a polyatomic ion that is designated by the parentheses. -marsbound2024 http://warzone2100.wikicities.com/index.php/New_Campaign_Projects